Posted by dawnbixtler on 2006-07-03 02:58:48 +0000
Germany beats Italy 2-0, France beats Portugal 1-0, France beats Germany for the Cup 1-0.
No, it's not really an all Western European finals. France has a lot of ringers.
Posted by pamsterdam on 2006-07-03 07:24:32 +0000
I don't know that it's fair to say that France have "a lot" of ringers. Of the 20 players on their squard, 5 were born in French colonies rather than in France itself, and of those 5 players, 1 (Boumsong) has stayed on the bench so far in WC06.
On a much more important note, France also has the cutest team.
Posted by jbcardinale on 2006-07-03 10:43:47 +0000
I'm glad I qualified a previous comment with "I'm not an expert". I hadn't seen France play at all and Sat. against Brazil, Zidane was the best player on the pitch and no Brazil player played with the energy of Ribery (didn't make list of good looking players). I wouldn't bet against the home team.
Posted by pamsterdam on 2006-07-03 11:13:58 +0000
Here's a <a href="http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/5694884">lovely story on Ribery</a>, which addresses both his excellent performance in the World Cup and his scars:
<i>"Ribery's upbringing in the northern French town of Boulogne-sur-Mer saw him recover from a car crash. Aged two, he survived after being thrown headfirst into the car window as his father drove.
He still bears the wounds today - deep patches of scarred skin on the right side of his face and on his forehead. Ribery previously said that he refused the chance to have plastic surgery, because the scars are nothing to be ashamed of."</i>
On a much more important note, France also has the cutest team.
<img src="http://www.footcitoyen.org/base/IMG/confdepresse4.jpg"></src>
<img src="http://www.soccernet.com/images/england/prempreviews/04_05/DjibrilCisse_ns_e.jpg"></src><img src="http://media.eresmas.com/biblioteca/img/estilisimo/Zinedine_Zidane_ok.jpg"></src><img src="http://teemix.aufeminin.com/imworld4/stars/fan/D20050822/2209_199775337_franca_sylvain_wiltord_H170741_M.jpg"></src>
Although Portugal does have...
<img src="http://bbb.blogs.sapo.pt/arquivo/luis_figo1.jpg"></src>
And Germany represents pretty well in the box with...
<img src="http://www.soccernet.com/images/england/20041207/lehmann_br.jpg"></src>
Whereas Italy's team <i>sucks</i>.
<i>"Ribery's upbringing in the northern French town of Boulogne-sur-Mer saw him recover from a car crash. Aged two, he survived after being thrown headfirst into the car window as his father drove.
He still bears the wounds today - deep patches of scarred skin on the right side of his face and on his forehead. Ribery previously said that he refused the chance to have plastic surgery, because the scars are nothing to be ashamed of."</i>
<img src="http://images.maxifoot.com/franck-ribery-2.jpg"><src>
He's an attractive guy, but Henry, Cisse, and Zidane are - no soccer-related pun intended - in a different leaugue.
arrrrrgh